Andy Woods<\/p>\n
Soteriology 42, Hebrews 6:4-6<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 December 18, 2016<\/p>\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0 Let\u2019s open up with a word of prayer if we could.\u00a0\u00a0 Father, we\u2019re grateful for this time of the year where Your Son entered our world and paid a debt for us that we could never pay for ourselves, so help us Father to, as this next week unfolds, to really keep the real meaning of Christmas safe in our minds.\u00a0 So we ask that You\u2019ll do that; we ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said amen.\n\nIf you could open your Bibles once again to Hebrews 6, and verses 4-6, you should have two things coming around; number 1 the handouts from last week and this week should all be combined into one and you should also have an academic paper that I wrote.\u00a0 Did you guys get both of those?\u00a0 If you need one or the other could you put your hand up.\u00a0 \u00a0The paper will kind of capture what I\u2019m trying to communicate, hopefully it\u2019ll capture what I\u2019m trying to communicate on Hebrews 6:4-6, which is a very difficult verse, set of verses, to interpret, especially when you get into the subject of eternal security because you read it at first glance and it looks like you can lose your salvation.\u00a0 So the way I\u2019m teaching this is captured in that paper so you can go back and read that paper on your own.\u00a0 And then the handouts are from last week and this week combined since I didn\u2019t get a handout to you last week.\n\nSo here\u2019s our passage, [4] \u201cFor in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit,\u2026 if they have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance\u2026.\u201d\n\nSo the view that I\u2019m going over is the last view on that list, it\u2019s called the loss of blessings view and I\u2019m planning on recycling backwards and comparing the other views to what I think is the right view.\u00a0\u00a0 In other words this passage as I\u2019m trying to explain it is not about a loss of salvation but it\u2019s a loss of blessings; salvation, heaven or hell is not really in view in the passage.\n\nSo the way to understand this, as I\u2019ve tried to explain last time is not start with Hebrews 6 but really start with Hebrews 3:7-11, where you\u2019ll have a quote there from Psalm 95 where God says I was angry with this, or actually that generation.\u00a0 [Psalm 85:10-11, \u201cFor forty years I loathed that<\/em> generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways.\u00a0 [11] Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.\u201d]\n\nSo what generation is he talking about?\u00a0 He\u2019s talking about the generation that came out of Egypt, received the Law of God, got to the southern border of the Promised Land and what did they see there?\u00a0 What did they see in the land?\u00a0 Giants and they fell into unbelief.\u00a0 So that generation did not enter Canaan, even Moses himself didn\u2019t enter.\u00a0 So that becomes the paradigm that the author of Hebrews is using to explain the predicament that the Hebrews are in because the Hebrews, like that Kadesh Barnea generation, we call this Kadesh Barnea because that\u2019s the geographical location where they fell into fear.\n\nThe Hebrews, in the New Testament, in the same way are capitulating, or on the verge of capitulating to fear of man and they\u2019re thinking about leaving the full revelation of Christ and going back to the institutions of Judaism, going back to the temple, going back to the sacrifices which were still functioning at this time.\u00a0 So the author is essentially saying you, if you do that, are going to lose a blessing which you could have had, just like that Kadesh-barnea generation all went to heaven but they lost a blessing which they could have had which was what?\u00a0 Entrance into the Promised Land.\n\nSo the better you understand the Kadesh-barnea scenario the better you understand what\u2019s happening in the book of Hebrews.\u00a0 And because most people don\u2019t connect the dots back to the Exodus generation and what happened at Kadesh-barnea, and they try to interpret Hebrews 6 and all of the other difficult passages in Hebrews without the light of the Old Testament they come up with wrong answers constantly.\n\nSo what is really happening in Hebrews 6?\u00a0 You will recall that last time we were together we looked at the Exodus generation since we have to understand that to understand the paradigm that the author of Hebrews is setting forward.\u00a0 And we just made two very simple points about that generation; number 1, that generation was comprised of all believers.\u00a0 Every single member of that generation was a believer in Yeshua, which is the Hebrew word for Jesus.\u00a0 Now maybe they didn\u2019t know the word \u201cJesus\u201d but they were a believer in Yahweh.\u00a0 So we spent a lot of time going through Old Testament evidence and New Testament evidence explaining that these people were in faith.\n\nIn fact, the statement is made of them in Exodus 14:31 that they believed in the Lord, all of them, which is the same Hebrew construction that we find in the famous Genesis 15:6 passage, Abraham believed God and it was credited to him unto righteousness, that Paul uses all of the time in the New Testament to defend the idea that we\u2019re saved by faith alone.\u00a0 \u00a0[Exodus 14:31, \u201cWhen Israel saw the great power which the LORD had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in His servant Moses.\u00a0 Genesis 15:6, \u201cThen he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.\u201d]\n\nSo the Exodus generation was all in faith, they were all saved.\u00a0 So they were saved physically from the pursuing Egyptians and then they were also saved spiritually as well.\u00a0 And it\u2019s not just the Old Testament that teaches that, it\u2019s the New Testament that teaches that because these people are in the hall of faith as we saw last time.\u00a0 So if they\u2019re all saved what did they lose?\u00a0 They didn\u2019t lose salvation, they didn\u2019t lose eternity, they didn\u2019t lose the hope of heaven, what they were cut off from is a temporary blessing which is at their fingertips which they could have had, which was entrance into Canaan.\u00a0 So that scenario becomes the blueprint through which to view Hebrews 6.\n\nSo with that foundation laid, hopefully, I want to move from there to the actual Hebrews themselves in the New Testament.\u00a0 And we want to make the same exact two points.\u00a0 Number 1, the Hebrews generation was all saved; everybody in the book of Hebrews that\u2019s addressed is a saved person.\u00a0 And number 2, if they forfeit their full revelation of Christ and capitulate to fear and go back to the temple system it\u2019s not a matter of them losing salvation; it\u2019s a matter of them forfeiting a blessing.\u00a0 And I\u2019ll define what that blessing is in a little bit, it\u2019s essentially loss of maturity, they\u2019re going to be stuck in a permanent level of immaturity.\n\nSo the author makes two points about the Exodus generation and he\u2019s making the exact same two points about the Hebrews generation. And if you understand that suddenly the book of Hebrews starts to make sense and you start interpreting these difficult passages (like Hebrews 6:4-6) not as loss of salvation passages but loss of blessing passages. Does that make any sense?\n\nSo I\u2019m going to give you what I think is the most important thing to grasp to understand the book of Hebrews and that fact is this: the Hebrews were all believers.\u00a0 Now if you listen to Reformed theologians what they\u2019ll tell you is this warning passage is really not addressed to believers, it\u2019s addressed to the unbelievers in the crowd.\u00a0 That\u2019s how they handle Hebrews 6:4-6, the author is writing to believers, believers, believers, and there\u2019s a few unbelievers in the crowd, Hebrews 6:4-6 is addressed to them.\u00a0 And I want to show you why that view doesn\u2019t work and the reason it doesn\u2019t work is the way the author describes these people is they\u2019re all saved. So he\u2019s not all of a sudden getting off on a sidetrack and addressing a few unbelievers in the crowd saying you\u2019re all on your way to hell if you don\u2019t trust in Christ.\u00a0 That\u2019s not what he\u2019s saying at all.\u00a0 He\u2019s saying you, as believers, are going to forfeit something, not eternity, not heaven, but something temporal, a blessing that God wants to give you, if you capitulate like the Exodus generation did to the thinking of man and go back to the temple system, or the fear of man and go back to the temple system.\n\nSo is it really true that the Hebrews are all believers?\u00a0 Just like the Exodus generation was all believers?\u00a0 And I believe it is true when you look at four things: the extended context, the context that comes immediately before Hebrews 6:4-6, that difficult passage we\u2019re debating.\u00a0 The Hebrews 6:4-6 passage itself, that would be the immediate context, and then the subsequent context, what follows Hebrews 6:4-6.\u00a0 I\u2019m just making a simple point that everybody addressed is regenerated and a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ; no unbelievers in the crowd.\n\nSo let\u2019s start with the extended context, looking at the book as a whole.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to give you several verses, you might want to keep your Bible open to Hebrews but notice Hebrews 1:2, \u201cin these last days has spoken to us<\/u>\u201d see that, Hebrews 1:2, in other words the author must have been a believer, right?\u00a0 So when he says \u201cus\u201d he\u2019s saying that the audience is also what?\u00a0 Believers, because he\u2019s identifying with the spiritual status of his audience.\n\nLook at Hebrews 1:3, it says, \u201c\u2026When He had made purification of sins\u201d so these are people that had already had their sins forgiven.\u00a0 Look at Hebrews 2:3, \u201chow will we <\/u>escape if we<\/u>\u201d what? \u201cneglect so great a salvation?\u201d\u00a0 Now you can\u2019t neglect a salvation unless you already have what? Salvation!\u00a0 It\u2019s like someone saying well you\u2019re neglecting\u00a0 your wife; that means I have to have a wife to neglect.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 I mean, you\u2019re neglecting your wife doesn\u2019t apply to an unmarried person.\n\nNotice Hebrews 3:1, \u201cTherefore,\u201d what? \u201choly brethren,\u201d they kind of look saved to me; and then it goes on and it says \u201c\u2026the Apostle and High Priest of our<\/u> confession;\u201d see how the author identifies with the audience spiritually?\u00a0 He says \u201cour.\u201d\u00a0 So if the author was saved, (he must have been because he wrote a New Testament book) then the audience must have been saved.\n\nIf\u00a0 you go down to Hebrews 4:3 it says, \u201cFor we<\/u> who have believed\u2026\u201d so the writer says I believed and you have believed as well.\n\nHebrews 4:14, \u201cTherefore, since we<\/u> have a great high priest\u2026.\u201d Does an unbeliever have a high priest named Jesus?\u00a0 No.\u00a0\u00a0 But \u201cwe<\/u>\u201d I have it, the writer says and you have it, already have a high priest named Jesus Christ.\n\nHebrews 4:16, \u201cTherefore let\u201d what? \u201cus<\/u> draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we<\/u> may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.\u201d\u00a0 So us<\/u> and we<\/u> again, indicating that the writer is saved and so are the readers.\n\nHebrews 10:36-39, there\u2019s a long passage there but what he says there is these people need endurance, they don\u2019t need to get saved, they need endurance, they need to draw upon their resources already in Christ.\u00a0 So their primary need is not salvation, but it\u2019s endurance.\u00a0 [Hebrews 10:36-39, \u201cFor you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.\u201d]\n\nHebrews 10:22 talks about how \u201cour\u201d, see how he\u2019s identifying with the audience, \u201cour hearts are sprinkled clean from an evil conscience.\u201d\u00a0 [Hebrews 10:22, \u201clet us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean<\/em> from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.\u201d]\u00a0 So their hearts have been cleansed just like the writer\u2019s heart had been cleansed.\n\nHebrews 9:14 talks about how their consciences have been cleansed to serve the living God.\u00a0 [Hebrews 9:14, \u201chow much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?\u201d]\u00a0 That\u2019s a scripture that only would fit to a saved person.\n\nHebrews 10:10 indicates that they already have the Holy Spirit and they\u2019ve been sanctified, past tense, by the Holy Spirit. [Hebrews 10:10, \u201cBy this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.\u201d]\n\nHebrews 10:15 talks about how the Holy Spirit testifies to us.\u00a0 [Hebrews 10:15, \u201cAnd the Holy Spirit also testifies to us;\u2026\u201d]\u00a0 So again both groups, the writer and the audience have the Holy Spirit and he uses this word \u201cus\u201d to identify with their status.\n\nHebrews 12:2, \u201cfixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 [Hebrews 12:2, \u201cfixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.\u201d]\n\nSo Jesus is our \u201cperfecter of faith.\u201d\n\nHebrews 12:7 he calls them sons, if a son then a what?\u00a0 Then an heir.\u00a0 So that\u2019s why they\u2019re under the disciplinary hand of God, because they\u2019re already God\u2019s children.\u00a0 [Hebrews 12:7, \u201cIt is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his<\/em> father does not discipline?\u201d\n\nHebrews 12:28, \u201cTherefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken,\u2026.\u201d So the writer says I\u2019m receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, you\u2019re receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken.\u00a0 An unbeliever doesn\u2019t have that benefit.\n\nNow what\u2019s the one condition necessary for a person to get saved?\u00a0 Believe!\u00a0 Now isn\u2019t it interesting that this book has in it 38 exhortations and never once does the writer tell these people to believe in Christ to be saved, the way John\u2019s Gospel does which was written to unbelievers.\u00a0 So John\u2019s Gospel is evangelistic, it tells people to believe in Jesus to be saved, so John must be writing to unbelievers but the book of Hebrews never does that.\n\nIf there\u2019s any doubt about the spiritual status of these Hebrews, whether they\u2019re saved or unsaved you would think there would be some kind of exhortation somewhere in here towards evangelism but you don\u2019t discover it.\u00a0 You discover 38 other exhortations.\u00a0 So if you were just kind of stuck on a desert island and you knew nothing about the debate about Hebrews 6:4-6,\u00a0and you just had the book of Hebrews to read, you would never get the impression that these people are unsaved.\u00a0 All of them are saved and this is where the Reformed view really starts to fall apart because what they want you to believe is Hebrews 6, yeah, the book of Hebrews is written to saved people but not Hebrews 6, that\u2019s written to unsaved people, and that just doesn\u2019t pass the smell test.\n\nSo that was the extended context, now let\u2019s go to the preceding context.\u00a0 These are the verses that come immediately before Hebrews 6:4-6, the difficult passage we\u2019re looking at.\u00a0 Look at Hebrews 5:11-14 and notice what it says there in Hebrews 5.\u00a0 It says, \u201cConcerning him we have much to say, and it is<\/em> hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. [12] For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. \u00a0[13] or everyone who partakes only<\/em> of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. \u00a0[14] But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.\u201d\n\nSo these are the verses that come right before Hebrews 6:4-6 and the question becomes are these people saved or unsaved?\u00a0 Just look at the evidence here.\u00a0 The need of these people is to grow because he uses the word mature, \u201csolid food is for the mature.\u201d\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t say you need to get saved; what he says is you need to grow in your salvation. And beyond that he calls them infants.\u00a0 What is an infant?\u00a0 An infant is a babe, a newborn babe in Christ; he calls them infants there in verses 13.\n\nNow the clincher is verse 12 of Hebrews 5, \u201cFor though by this time you ought to be teachers,\u201d now would you ever say that to an unbeliever?\u00a0 Would you ever want an unbeliever to teach a believer?\u00a0 That makes no sense at all.\u00a0 And it\u2019s astounding to me that the John MacArthur commentary on Hebrews actually takes these people as unsaved people, which makes zero sense to me how these people could be unsaved because I can\u2019t think of any circumstance where the author of Hebrews would want unsaved people to teach saved people.\n\nAnd then he goes on, I think that\u2019s there in verse 12, he says you\u2019re thriving on milk but rejecting the meat so the capacity to even take in milk, that\u2019s got to be something that a believer experiences.\u00a0 1 Peter 2:2, of new Christians, says,\u00a0 \u201clike newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow\u201d thereby.\u00a0 They\u2019re taking in milk, they\u2019re just not able to absorb meat yet, so their capacity to take in milk indicates you\u2019re dealing with saved people.\n\nAnd then he talks here in verse 11 about how they\u2019re slow to learn, it\u2019s hard to explain this to you \u201csince you have become dull of hearing.\u201d\u00a0 [Hebrews 5:11, \u201cConcerning him we have much to say, and it is<\/em> hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.\u201d]\u00a0 Now an unbeliever is not slow to learn; an unbeliever doesn\u2019t have any ability to learn spiritual things because they don\u2019t even have the Holy Spirit inside of them yet at all.\n\nAnd then you go down to the end of verse 14 and they have the ability to have their senses trained to discern good and evil, again that couldn\u2019t be an unbeliever because an unbeliever who\u2019s mind has been darkened by Satan, 2 Corinthians 4:4, has no capacity to discern good and evil.\u00a0 These people have at least the rudimentary skill to do it, they just need to grow in it. [Hebrews 5:14, \u201cBut solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.\u201d\u00a0 2 Corinthians 4:4, \u201cin whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.\u201d]\n\nSo I would ask you a question, you read that and you didn\u2019t know anything about the debates about Hebrews 6, you didn\u2019t know anything about Calvinism or Arminianism, would you think these people are saved or unsaved?\u00a0 You\u2019d obviously think they are saved wouldn\u2019t you?\n\nLet\u2019s go to the next verse that immediately comes before Hebrews 6:4-6, that difficult passage we\u2019re looking at.\u00a0 Look at Hebrews 6:1-3, he says, \u201cTherefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, [2] of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. [3] And this we will do, if God permits.\u201d\n\nFirst of all notice there at the beginning of Hebrews 6:1 the word \u201cTherefore,\u201d which connects that paragraph to the paragraph that we just studied that came before.\u00a0 So whatever your conclusion is about the end of chapter 5 you have to reach that same conclusion at the beginning of chapter 6 because those two paragraphs are grammatically connected.\u00a0 By the way, did you all know that the chapter divisions the Holy Spirit didn\u2019t put in there?\u00a0 That was a guy named Stephen Langton who put those in on a long bumpy carriage ride in the 1600\u2019s and I understand what he was doing, he was trying to group material together and a lot of times he\u2019s helpful in what he does but sometimes they create an artificial buffer that divests one chapter from another when the original text doesn\u2019t do that.\n\nHe says, \u201clet us press on to maturity,\u201d people didn\u2019t need to believe in Christ to get saved, they needed to grow up.\u00a0 And did you catch the \u201cus\u201d and the \u201cwe,\u201d \u201clet us press on to maturity\u201d?\u00a0 Verse 3, \u201cwe will do this is God permits\u201d so the author once again is identifying with the spiritual status of his audience. \u00a0The dead giveaway is they\u2019ve already laid a foundation which is a good foundation but they need to grow beyond that foundation, not get rid of the foundation but build on it and they already have faith towards God.\u00a0 So the author presupposes that these people have faith towards God.\n\nAnd then he goes on and he says in verse 1, \u201clet us leave the elementary teachings about Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying a foundation of repentance\u201d and other things.\u00a0 So you see here that they already had the elementary teachings, they had the foundation, they had the basics, they knew the alphabet, they just needed to learn how to write words because you can\u2019t write words unless you know the alphabet.\u00a0 And you can\u2019t write a sentence unless you know how to write words, and you can\u2019t write a paragraph unless you know how to write a sentence and you can\u2019t write a paper or a book unless you know how to write a paragraph.\n\nSo he\u2019s saying look, you\u2019ve got a few basics down but you need to graduate beyond those and move on to greater things.\u00a0 So very clearly you\u2019re dealing with saved people.\u00a0 Now these are the verses that come right before the ones that are so debated and contested, probably the most debated and contested verses in the whole Bible. \u00a0That\u2019s why I\u2019m going through this slowly.\n\nSo the extended context favors a saved audience; the preceding context favors a saved audience.\u00a0 Okay, let\u2019s go into the belly of the beast itself and let\u2019s look at Hebrews 6:4-6.\u00a0 These are the verses now everyone is arguing about.\u00a0 The writer says, \u201cFor in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, [5] and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, [6] and then<\/em> have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.\u201d\n\nThe Reformed camp wants you to believe that these verses are people that came under the conviction of the Spirit but they never trusted Christ.\u00a0 They were what you call professors but not possessor, kind of like Judas who was near Christ and saw His miracles and that kind of thing but never actually trusted in Christ and went to hell.\u00a0 So that\u2019s how the Reformed camp understands all these warning passages.\u00a0 The writer is talking to believers and all of a sudden he finds a few unbelievers in the crowd and he zeroes in on them, he gives them a warning and then when he\u2019s finished with the warning he goes right back to talking about believers.\n\nHowever, when you actually look at this paragraph what you\u2019ll discover is these are saved people.\u00a0 I think I can demonstrate that to you.\u00a0 First of all notice the word \u201cfor\u201d which connects verse 4 back to verse 3, so whatever you\u2019re concluding about the end of Hebrews 5 and the beginning of Hebrews 6 you can\u2019t just switch audiences right in the middle because all of these paragraphs are grammatically connected to each other.\u00a0 Now there are five descriptive phrases here which I think are almost unassailable in terms of the fact that they are talking about saved people.\u00a0 And here is the mistake that people are making with the book of Hebrews.\u00a0 The way to figure out what a writer means when he uses a word is you ask yourself how does that writer, same writer, use that same word in the same book?\u00a0 Are you with me on that?\u00a0 So when you do a word study you start off with not running everywhere in the Bible to find out what a word means, how does the writer himself use the same word in the same book?\n\nAnd you see, that\u2019s not what\u2019s happening as people are analyzing Hebrews 6.\u00a0 They are sending you to every passage in the Bible that is generally connected and they\u2019re not doing good work by showing you what the same writer means in the same book through the same word.\u00a0\u00a0 You guys with me on that?\u00a0 See, that\u2019s a huge issue that I just said because when you read Reformed commentaries, like the MacArthur Study Bible for example, and I\u2019m not bashing totally the MacArthur Study Bible, he\u2019s got some good things in there, but his analysis of Hebrews 6 is very, very lacking, because he doesn\u2019t even reference how the same writer uses the same word.\u00a0 He sends you into 1 John, he sends\u00a0 you into the Gospels, and you read his notes and he doesn\u2019t even\u2026 he gives you the impression that the writer himself has never defined the words he\u2019s using in the same book.\n\nSo let\u2019s look at some of these words here, I think there\u2019s five.\u00a0 Number 1, \u201cfor in the case of those who have been once\u201d notice that word once, \u201cenlightened.\u201d\u00a0 When you go to Hebrews 10:32-35 you will find the word \u201cenlightened,\u201d ph\u014dtiz\u014d<\/em>, kind of like photograph, it\u2019s a participle here but it says, \u201cremember the former days,\u201d having been what? \u201cenlightened.\u201d\u00a0 Now you go down to verse 34, at the end of verse 34 and it says these people that had been enlightened had lasting possessions.\u00a0 Sounds like saved people, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 And therefore they\u2019re going onto a reward, verse 35.\n\n[Hebrews 10:32-35, \u201cBut remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, [33] partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. [34] For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one. [35] Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. [36] For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.\u201d]\n\nI mean, nobody challenges that \u201cenlightened\u201d means saved people in Hebrews 10, but they challenge that \u201cenlightened\u201d means saved people in Hebrews 6, which I think is sort of inconsistent.\u00a0 Now notice this expression here, backing up for a minute, who have once been enlightened.\u00a0 The word for \u201conce\u201d there is hapax <\/em>which is communicating a onetime event which cannot be repeated.\u00a0\u00a0 For example, in Hebrews 9:7 it says, \u201cbut into the second, only the high priest enters once a year,\u201d hapax,<\/em> a once a year event.\u00a0\u00a0 [Hebrews 9:7, \u201cBut only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.\u201d]\n\nOver in Hebrews 9:26-28 it says otherwise He would have need often to suffer from the foundation of the world but now once\u201d hapax<\/em>, \u201cat the consummation of the ages he has manifested to put away sin by the practice of Himself, verse 27 of Hebrews 9, \u201cin as much as it is appointed for man to die once,\u201d hapax<\/em>, and after this comes judgment. Verse 28, \u201cSo Christ having been offered once,\u201d hapax<\/em>.\n\n[Hebrews 9:26-28, \u201cOtherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once<\/u> for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. [27] Just as people are destined to die once<\/u>, and after that to face judgment, [28] so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.\u201d]\n\nSo when the writer uses the word hapax<\/em> he\u2019s talking about an enlightenment that has come upon these people immediately and permanently.\u00a0 So you put together the word \u201cenlightened\u201d and the word \u201conce\u201d and you study out how those same words are used in the same book and I think\u00a0 you\u2019re dealing with saved people, not people that got \u201cclose but no cigar,\u201d but people that were enlightened one time.\n\nAnd then going back to Hebrews 6:4-6, Hebrews 6 verse 4, \u201cFor in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have\u201d what? \u201ctasted of the heavenly gift\u201d now here\u2019s how the Reformed camp wants you to understand \u201ctasted.\u201d\u00a0 [Hebrews 6:4-6, \u201cFor in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have\u201d what? \u201ctasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, [5] and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, [6] and then<\/em> have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame\u201d]\n\nIt\u2019s like licking a lollypop, you just took a little taste into your mouth but you never swallow the whole thing, like that owl that they used to have on Saturday morning cartoons that would say three licks to the bottom of the tootsie pop, because he took a bite out of it at the end.\u00a0 Was it three licks?\u00a0 Yeah, see, everybody knows that.\u00a0 So that\u2019s how the Reformed camp wants you understand \u201ctasted,\u201d they didn\u2019t follow the example of the owl, just took a little lick of the lollypop but never absorbed.\n\nNow question: now you can find other verses in the Bible that teach that, but that doesn\u2019t matter, that\u2019s irrelevant.\u00a0 How does the writer of this same book use the word \u201ctasted,\u201d it\u2019s the Greek verb geuomai,<\/em> and notice Hebrews 2:9, \u201cBut we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might\u201d what?\u00a0 what does it say, \u201ctaste death for everyone.\u201d\u00a0 Now it\u2019s the same word, geuomai<\/em>, let me ask\u00a0 you, when Jesus died on the cross did He get \u201cclose but no cigar,\u201d or was it a full experience?\u00a0 It was a full experience.\u00a0 So when the writer of Hebrews says they \u201ctasted of the heavenly gift\u201d he\u2019s not talking about people that got close and took a little lick of it, he\u2019s talking about people that have had a full experience with the Holy Spirit because of their salvation.\n\nNow notice that here in Hebrews 6:4 these people have \u201ctasted of the heavenly gift.\u201d Now we might ask ourselves, well then what is \u201cthe heavenly gift\u201d?\u00a0 The Hebrew word for gift is d\u014drea<\/em>, and it has ten usages in the New Testament (in the paper I show you where all those ten usages are) and every single time it\u2019s used it is referring to either regenerated people that have been gifted by God or regenerated people themselves.\u00a0 Now I\u2019m not sure \u201cgift\u201d is used elsewhere in the book of Hebrews.\u00a0 So if it\u2019s not used elsewhere in the book of Hebrews we\u2019ve got to go outside the book of Hebrews to try to figure out what does the word mean.\u00a0 And I have the quote therein the paper; \u201cd\u014drea<\/em> and all of its other ten uses in the New Testament either refers to regenerated person receiving a gift from God or the gift of regeneration itself, starting with John 4:10 and other passages.\u201d [John 4:10, \u201cJesus answered and said to her, \u2018If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.\u2019\u201d]\n\nIt says they \u201ctasted of the heavenly gift,\u201d it couldn\u2019t be clearer that you\u2019re dealing with people that have the Holy Spirit and they don\u2019t just have it a little bit, they have a full experience with the Holy Spirit and it\u2019s something that has been one time delivered to them.\n\nAnother phrase, these people, the end of verse 4, have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 [Hebrews 6:4, \u201cFor in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit,\u201d]\u00a0 Now the word \u201cpartaker\u201d is metochoi<\/em> which means partnership.\u00a0 For example, it\u2019s used of our partnership with Jesus, Hebrews 1:9.\u00a0 Hebrews 3:1 it\u2019s talking there about \u201choly brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, that\u2019s metochoi<\/em>.\u00a0 Hebrews 3:14, we have become \u201cpartakers of Christ,\u201d Hebrews 12:8, we are partakers in divine discipline as sons.\n\nSo \u201cpartakers\u201d is somebody that has entered into a full partnership with the Spirit of God.\u00a0 So it\u2019s clearly talking about saved people.\u00a0 And notice that it says there that they have the Holy Spirit, they have been made \u201cpartakers of the Holy Spirit.\u201d\n\nAnd when you study what the writer says about the Holy Spirit, Hebrews 10, really beginning at verse 29 and going down to verse 35, you see that it\u2019s something that can be experienced only by a saved person.\n\n[Hebrews 10:29-35, \u201cHow much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? [30] For we know Him who said, \u2018VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.\u2019 And again, \u2018THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.\u2019 [31] It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.\u00a0 [32] But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, [33] partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. [34] For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one. [35] Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.\u201d]\n\nSo these people had full partnership with the Spirit of God; there\u2019s no way this could be talking about an unsaved person at all.\u00a0 And then he goes on and what does he say?\u00a0 \u201cThey have tasted,\u201d see how the word \u201ctasted\u201d is used a second time, \u201ctasted of the good word of God.\n\n[Hebrews 6:5, \u201cand have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,]\u00a0 Now again \u201ctasted\u201d doesn\u2019t just mean licking a lollypop, licking a frosty freeze, licking a snow cone.\u00a0 The way the writer uses the word, going back to Hebrews 2:9, is a full experience.\u00a0 And \u201ctasting\u201d of the Word of God\u201d is used throughout the Bible to describe saved people.\u00a0 1 Peter 2:3 says, \u201cif you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.\u201d\u00a0 Psalm 34:8 says, \u201cO taste, and see that the LORD is good.\u201d\u00a0 So when you actually study \u201ctaste\u201d this idea that you just kind of get close but never swallow, that\u2019s not how the rest of the Scripture\u2026, it\u2019s certainly not how the author of Hebrews describes this concept of tasting.\u00a0 This is a full experience in the Word of God that this audience has already received.\u00a0 So they \u201chave tasted of the word of God.\u201d\n\nThey have also tasted, same verb, of the powers of the age to come. So these are people that had received what I would call the first fruits of the millennial kingdom because at this time miracles were happening in their midst, and there\u2019s a reference to that, Hebrews 2:3-4, as the message was being handed off from the apostles to the next generation God testified to it by signs and miracles.\u00a0 [Hebrews 2:3, \u201chow will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, [4] God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.\u201d]\u00a0 And you know what?\u00a0 These are the same kind of miracles that are going to go all over the planet when the millennial kingdom comes.\u00a0 So these are people that had tasted the firstfruits, if you will, of the millennial kingdom.\n\nSo you take these five phrases and you put them together, \u201cwho have once been enlightened,\u201d \u201cwho have tasted of the heavenly gift,\u201d \u201cwho have been made partakers with the Holy Spirit,\u201d partners,\u201d \u201cwho have tasted of the good word of God,\u201d\u00a0 \u201cwho have tasted of the age to come\u201d and you study how the writer uses that same terminology in the same book, that\u2019s\u00a0 your starting place.\u00a0 And\u00a0 you don\u2019t run off to every other verse in the Bible that\u2019s [can't understand word] related.\u00a0 I think the conclusion is almost inescapable, that you\u2019re dealing with regenerated, saved people.\n\nNow the Reform camp admits this. This guy, Dr. Roger McCall is very Reformed, he doesn\u2019t think these verses are talking about saved people but every once in a while you have these moments of candor in these guys.\u00a0 So he says the most immediate impulse would be to interpret this cluster of statements as describing regenerate persons.\u00a0 I wish he had stopped writing right there; if he\u2019d just put a period, end of article, that would be great.\u00a0 Then he goes on and on to give all of these pages of detail why these aren\u2019t saved people, but he admits here, gosh, if you just looked at this at face value they look like saved people to me.\n\nNow a lot of people will look at Hebrews 4:4-6 and they\u2019ll say there\u2019s no way this could be saved people because the author tells these people to repent, and we all know that only unsaved people repent.\u00a0 You guys look saved to me anyway; you guys ever had to repent as Christians?\u00a0 Of course we repent as Christians; we step out of God\u2019s will all of the time and we need to ask God to restore broken fellowship. \u00a0Would you say David was a saved person when he committed murder and adultery, first adultery and then murder?\u00a0 He had to repent before God.\u00a0 So don\u2019t let this word \u201crepentance\u201d make you believe that these are unsaved people.\n\nNow the one that bothers everybody is this one here, it says, the audience is running the risk of crucifying to themselves the son of God and putting Him to an open shame. [Hebrews 6:6, \u201cand then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.\u201d]\u00a0 They say how could a believer recrucify the Son of God?\u00a0 How could a believer put Jesus Christ to open shame?\u00a0 And so they say this is only a sin that could be committed by an unbeliever; never could a believer do such a thing.\u00a0 And I\u2019m here to tell you that a believer has the capacity to recrucify the Son of God; the believer has the capacity to put Christ to open shame.\u00a0 The audience, by leaving the full revelation of Christ and slipping back into the institutions of Judaism, in fact, was on the precipice of doing that very thing.\u00a0 Now why is that?\u00a0 Because they would be aligning with the unbelieving nation that crucified Christ.\n\nRemember what Peter said on the day of Pentecost, in Acts 2:22, \u201c\u2018Men of Israel,\u201d speaking to the Jewish nation.\u00a0 Down in Acts 2:23 he says of Christ, he says \u201cyou nailed to a cross.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0[Acts 2:22, \u201cMen of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know\u2014 \u201d\u00a0 Acts 2:23, \u201cthis Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.\u201d]\n\nWhat he\u2019s saying to his Jewish audience as they\u2019re in an unbelieving state, this nation killed Jesus.\u00a0 Now think about this for a minute; if you\u2019re a Hebrew that\u2019s saved and\u00a0 you\u2019re being pressured to reject the full revelation of Christ and go back to the institutions of Judaism, the temple which was still functioning up until A.D. 70, to get persecutors off your back which is the temptation that this audience was under, the author of Hebrews is saying if you do that you are re-crucifying Jesus Christ because you are publicly identifying with the nation that rejected Christ.\u00a0 If you reject your confession, which I think is their baptism, what is a baptism?\u00a0 It\u2019s an outward confession of an inward reality.\u00a0 That\u2019s what the unbelieving Jews hated when they saw a Jew get saved and baptized.\u00a0 If you reject that baptism and you may not even think\u00a0 you\u2019re doing this but if you go back to Judaism and just pretend like nothing happened, that you were never saved to begin with, you are identifying with the nation that killed Jesus.\u00a0 That\u2019s how it\u2019s completely possible for this audience to recrucify Christ.\n\nStephen, in his speech there in Acts 7 says virtually the same thing.\u00a0\u00a0 He talks about the righteousness\u2026 this is what got Stephen killed by the way, by the unbelieving Jews, righteous one who\u2019s betrayers and murderers you have become.\u00a0 He points the finger right at the Jewish nation and says you guys, the first century Israel, rejected Christ, the leadership rejected Christ.\u00a0 Now if the Hebrews renounce the full revelation of Christ and go back into the institutions of Judaism they are crucifying Jesus Christ all over again.\u00a0 You\u2019re putting Him to open shame.\u00a0 [Hebrews 6:4, \u201cand have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.\u201d]\n\nIs it possible for a believer to do this?\u00a0 Yes it is possible, just like it\u2019s possible for the Kadesh-barnea generation to manufacture a golden calf and still be saved.\u00a0 Just like it\u2019s possible for you and I in the age of the church to grieve the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 4:30.\u00a0 [Ephesians 4:30, \u201cDo not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.\u201d]\u00a0 So this expression, re-crucifixion of Christ can easily apply to a believer.\u00a0 See that?\n\nNow there\u2019s another expression that bothers people, it says \u201cthey have fallen away.\u201d\u00a0 [Hebrews 6:6, \u201cand then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.\u201d]\u00a0 And people look at that and say well, they\u2019ve fallen away from salvation.\u00a0 Arminianism says they had salvation and lost it.\u00a0 The Reformed camp comes along and says well, they fell away from salvation because they never had it.\u00a0 And the bottom line is you can fall away from all kinds of things as a Christian without jeopardizing your eternal security.\u00a0\u00a0 You can fall away from fellowship, you can fall away from maturity.\n\nLet\u2019s say you just decide to quit coming to church for three months.\u00a0 What have you just short-circuited yourself from?\u00a0 Three months of teaching, three months of growth that God wants to give you.\u00a0 So if these guys reject the full revelation of Christ and wander back into the institutions of Judaism it\u2019s not necessarily saying they\u2019ve lost their salvation but they\u2019ve fallen away from growth, maturity, they now become candidates for divine discipline and so forth.\u00a0 So when you look at the immediate context I\u2019m convinced that you\u2019re dealing with a saved audience; therefore this warning is not talking about hell.\n\nAnd let\u2019s look at the subsequent context, let\u2019s look at the verses right after Hebrews 6:4-6, and notice what it says here.\u00a0 [Hebrews 4:7] \u201cFor ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; [8] but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.\u00a0 [9] But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way.\u00a0 [10] For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. [11] And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, [12] so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.\u201d\n\nNow these are the verses that go right after Hebrews 6:4-6.\u00a0 See that word \u201cFor,\u201d see how all these paragraphs are connected?\u00a0 So whatever you\u2019re going to do with Hebrews 6, verse 7 and following is going to impact your view of Hebrews 6:4-6, just like your view of Hebrews 5 and the beginning of Hebrews 6 is going to impact your view of Hebrews 6:4-6.\u00a0 You have to look at the total context.\n\nNow notice this word \u201cdrink, \u201cFor the ground drinks the rain,\u201d the verb there is pin\u014d<\/em><\/a> and when you study that word what you\u2019ll discover is that refers to people receiving salvation.\u00a0 It\u2019s not used in Hebrews so we can find it elsewhere, in places like John 4:13, \u201cEveryone who drinks of this water will thirst again.\u201d\u00a0 John 6:54, \u201cHe who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life.\u201d\u00a0 John 7:37, \u201cIf anyone is thirsty let him come to me and\u201d what? \u201cdrink.\u201d So these people have drunken, drank, drunk, however you say that, in initial salvation, I believe, that\u2019s the significance of that word \u201cdrink.\u201d\n\nAnd consequently they\u2019ve been blessed, there\u2019s vegetation, there\u2019s blessings from God but oh-oh, there\u2019s not just blessings from God in their lives there\u2019s what? thorns and thistles, and those thorns and thistles are cursed.\u00a0 Now people look at that and they say how could that be a saved person?\u00a0 Look at the audience, they had received initial salvation, blessing, vegetation, but they are thinking about (to escape persecution) renouncing the full revelation of Christ and going back to the institutions of Judaism.\u00a0 That\u2019s the \u201cthorns and thistles\u201d. \u00a0Can you think of any biblical characters that don\u2019t have both in their lives?\u00a0 Practically every biblical character I can think of, David, Solomon, Samson, they had blessings, vegetation, but they also had what?\u00a0\u00a0 Some \u201cthorns and thistles.\u201d\u00a0 Look at your life, would you say both are in your life?\u00a0 There\u2019s some great things God is doing but then\u2026 you know, there\u2019s this thing over here I try to keep secret from everybody, it\u2019s kind of a thorn and thistle growing up in my life.\u00a0 See, the concept of thorns and thistles alongside vegetation can easily apply to a saved person.\n\nNow what about \u201ccursed\u201d?\u00a0 The Kadesh-barnea generation was saved, as I tried to explain, they believed in the Lord, they were brought to Mount Sinai as saved people and what did they receive at Sinai?\u00a0 The Law.\u00a0 The Law was never designed to redeem a people but rather it was given to a redeemed people.\u00a0 So when they received the Law of God they were already in faith. Have you studied that Law of God lately?\u00a0 It\u2019s got blessings and curses in it; you go this direction and obey the Law you\u2019re going to be blessed; you go the other direction and disobey the Law you\u2019re going to be cursed.\u00a0 So the concept of cursings can apply to a what?\u00a0 Saved person.\u00a0 Just like the concept of cursings was applicable to the nation of Israel that had already been regenerated, redeemed.\u00a0 See that?\n\nNow the writer of this book, the book is written to the Hebrews; sounds kind of Jewish doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 So the Jewish mind clearly understands how cursings are applicable to a saved nation.\u00a0 So don\u2019t let the word \u201ccursing\u201d make you feel like there\u2019s no way these people could be saved.\n\nHe goes on in verse 9 and he calls them \u201cbeloved.\u201d\u00a0 Now the word \u201cbeloved\u201d is used 60 times in the New Testament; 9 of the 60 times it\u2019s used to describe the relationship between the Father and the Son.\u00a0 The rest of the 51 times, as you study it out, it always refers to believers.\u00a0 So when he calls them \u201cbeloved\u201d he\u2019s calling them believers.\n\nAnd then he says \u201cyour work and the love which you have shown towards His name in having ministered and still ministering to the saints,\u201d and then he goes on and exhorts his audience to show the same diligence.\u00a0 These are people with good works in their lives, and they\u2019re called upon to continue to be diligent in the things of God.\u00a0 [Hebrews 6:10, \u201cFor God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints.\u201d]\n\nSo you look at three things here, actually four things, drink, blessings in vegetation along with cursings, the expression \u201cbeloved\u201d and the good works that these people are doing and I think the subsequent context demonstrates you\u2019ve got saved people.\n\nI don\u2019t have time to cover it but there are four words, we\u2019ll start these the next time we are together, four words in verses 7-12 that make it look, at first glance, that these are unsaved people: \u201cthorns and thistles,\u201d which we\u2019ve already talked a little bit about today, \u201cworthless,\u201d \u201ccursed,\u201d oh here\u2019s the killer, \u201cburned!\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s got to be hell, right?\u00a0 Not necessarily, as I\u2019ll be showing you.\n\nSo I didn\u2019t quite get as far as I wanted to do today but what I\u2019m trying to show you is the same two points made about the Kadesh-barnea generation, saved and loss of a blessing, is the identical points that the writer of Hebrews is making to his audience, saved and they hadn\u2019t crossed the point of no return yet but they\u2019re on the precipice, if you will, of forfeiting a divine blessing which they could have had, which is unrelated to salvation, because they already have salvation.\n\nSo I\u2019m sorry to kind of stop it right here in the middle but we\u2019ll continue this next time.\u00a0 And we won\u2019t be here next week or the week after because church will be starting at 10:00 a.m. and we\u2019re just having our regular church service because next Sunday is what?\u00a0 Christmas.\u00a0 And the following Sunday is what?\u00a0 New Year\u2019s so that\u2019s kind of how the calendar works this time.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t